The 100 Best Master System Games

Welcome to Retro-Sanctuary's Top 100 Best Master System games. Now, for anyone new to the site we follow a set of guidelines for all our lists. We aim to represent the best of all genre's, we try to limit the number of sequels included to allow more underrated games to shine, and also tend to avoid games that have been ported from earlier systems that don't use the hardware to its full potential. The best Import games are allowed, but only when they're import friendly and don't require an FAQ to play.

Thanks and enjoy the list!

100

Alien Syndrome

Top down shmup where the aim is to rescue a certain number of survivors and then head to the exit. Its a pretty decent port of the game for its time, and works well as an SMS game, with some really great boss designs, but unfortunately it does lose a little in the translation, most lamentably with the omission of the great 2-player option, which was one of the stronger features of the original game.

This was Sega's answer to the NES lightgun game Duck Hunt, and I'm not afraid to state that its easily the better game. Sega just put in a lot more effort overall, creating multiple different environments (Lake, Jungle, forest), and loads more enemy types. These additions lead to a much more interesting and varied game, and did a great job of kick starting their excellent history of lightgun support.

One of the earlier Master System games, Kung Fu Kid holds up very surprisingly well. It's a simple though addictive experience reminiscent of the old arcade game Kung-Fu Master. The whole game controls extremely well and is very fast and responsive, and the end of level boss fights are well done, and fun to master.

Pacmania brought a whole new level of gameplay to the original classic. On top of the classic staples of the series (dot munching and power pills) and updated graphical style, there's a new ability to do a quick jump over the head's of the ghosts to evade them at the last moment, which actually changes the rules a lot. Overall this is a pretty accurate port of a great game.

I definitely feel that one area where the SMS managed to have an advantage over the NES during the early days was with top down run and gun games. This was mainly due to the appearances of two key releases during 1986, the excellent Ninja (more on that later) and this game, which at that time were only really going up against the NES' belated port of Commando. Ashura in itself is actually inspired by Commando, but is part of the next generation of improved followers. There's many notable additions, such as power-ups, and an excellent 2-player co-op feature (a later staple). Its slow pacing has dated it somewhat, in comparison to the Ninja but Ashura remains a very playable game.

A very respectable port of Taito's arcade hack n' slash platformer, and one of the best of the early platform games on SMS. Rastan has you fighting your way through a fantasy setting killing monsters, swinging on ropes, and wall bouncing (this element was actually exclusive to the SMS version). Overall its very playable, a good length and contains a decent amount of challenge.

Probably the oldest shmup to make the list, Astro Warrior is a very fun and frenetic shooter that plays very similarly to the vertical scrolling levels found in Lifeforce (ie laser power-ups and options). Don't let the crude graphics dissuade you from checking it out as its a very good game regardless of its age and presentation.

Here's a well made miniature golf game that's addictive and varied. Apart from the usual elements you'd expect, Putt and Putter also has a slight puzzle slant, with conveyer's and switches included in some of the course designs keeping them unique.

Cyborg Hunter is a good, solid (though a little bit simplistic) adventure game. Basically the aim is to explore the stages in a non-linear fashion searching for new power-ups to improve your character's abilities and allow you to progress through the levels. The gameplay is smooth, and the new powers you gain (such as the ability to hover) keep the game interesting.

This is your general Track N Field style multi-event sports game (with events primarily requiring either fast button presses or precision timing). Its not the most original of games, but is a well made and very polished example of the genre.